Portugal Compak Sporting Grand Prix...21 / 22 April...

[Catamong]

We flew out to Faro in Portugal last Friday to shoot this event, a 2.5 hour flight from Luton via Easyjet.

 

As there were 6 of us, we picked up a nice Mercedes Vito crewbus at the airport and set off for the shooting ground via the A22 motorway, a drive of just over 30 mins.

 

First impressions of Portugal was that the place was pretty quiet at this time of year, their economy is also in a bit of a mess, there was a large building block manufacturing plant right next to ground which was closed, with a vast stockpile of blocks waiting for non-existent? buyers, their Construction industry is in a poor state.

 

The ground is perched on a small hilltop amongst gentle hills and valleys, here's a shot looking down off the clubhouse balcony over layouts A & B

 

 

For those that have not shot Compak Sporting before, this competition, (and all other International events), was shot over 200 birds, (8 layouts of 25 birds). On this 2 day event you shoot 4 layouts each day in squads of 6 shooters, over 5 stands, (one gun waits at peg 1).

 

On each peg you get 5 targets, the combination can be 3 singles, (full use of gun), plus 1 pair, (either on report or simmo), or 1 single and 2 pairs. The tricky ones tend to be the simmo pairs, you must have your game plan worked out re which one to shoot first, as it's often a judgement call, dependant on whether you shoot quick or slow.

 

They've also recently changed the rules, which now means that you cannot double barrel the first bird of a pair if you miss it, you have to shoot at both birds, one of our party fell foul of this one....no names, eh Chris..??

 

There were several local guys practicing on the layouts, on most shoots abroad the organisers are more than happy to let folks practice on the actual competition birds, they see nothing wrong with that..?? :o

 

Here's one of the locals shooting the overhead bird:

 

 

The Ground owner was giving the place a once over before the arrival of the majority of shooters, here's a "PW Stealth Stalker" lookalike splashing green paint all over the flagpoles:

 

 

We retired to the Clubhouse bar to refresh ourselves after the gruelling journey, here's young Nathan looking pretty glum after paying 4.50 Euro's for a large glass of draught beer, we only found out after a few rounds that the local bottled beer is much better value at only 1 Euro, the same price as we paid last year in Porto, up in the North of the country:

 

 

We bought some shells from the Gunroom at the ground, one of the locals recommended "Melior", so we all paid 70 Euros for a slab of 250, 28 gram 7.5's, (don't let anybody tell you that shells are cheaper abroard.. ).

 

We opted to refrain from practice on the Friday, and went and booked in at our Hotel, the Holiday Inn, in a lovely, (but dead quiet), little seaside resort called Armacao De Pera.

 

There are some stunning sea views from the hotel balcony and rooms:

 

 

Unfortunately the view soon became obscured with debris from the "team briefing" session that took a good few hours..

 

 

Following an early bed, we arrived at the ground on Saturday well before our start time of 10.30.

 

Here's young Chris waiting to shoot his first layout, chatting to a "Facebook friend", Sofia from Portugal:

 

 

Here he is again shooting his first layout on peg 5:

 

 

Another action shot..........another 2 balls of dust..

 

 

Here's Martin on peg 1 shooting his first layout, very steady as always:

 

 

And here's Jamie keeping cool in the shade whilst waiting to shoot:

 

 

We all shot our first 2 layouts, then had a break for lunch, a super meal of hot grilled chicken or pork with fries, rice, salad, a drink and pudding for only 10 euros a head, good value..

 

 

Back out after our 2 HOUR!! lunch break to shoot the next 2 layouts, here's Trevor in peg 4 shooting steady as usual:

 

 

Now, what do you make of this, "Clay targets of Natural Colophony", what's that... I thought it was something to do with dodgy bowels..??

 

 

Here's Sofia about to shoot on peg 1, she shoots that DT10 very well:

 

 

More locals doing their best, with Chris & trusty Blaser waiting:

 

 

Here's a shot of the clubhouse from layout B:

 

 

And here's a local "Catamong lookalike" scoring the following squad, the competion rules are that numbers 1, 3 & 5 of the squad always wait behind to score the following squad, those that forget or can't be bothered are docked 3 targets.. :blink:

 

 

The ground had a good "real time" scoreboard, hopefully more UK grounds will follow suit..?

 

 

Scores were high on day 1, a couple of 98's were in, I'm afraid the writing was on the wall for most of the Brits. :o

 

We were offered, (but politely declined ), a plate of these local "delicacies", they reminded me of squirrels claws done in an over-hot oven, they were literally smoking, does anybody know what they were..??

 

 

We got back to the Hotel on Saturday around 5pm, plenty of time left to take a dip in the pool and indulge in liquid refreshment, we went to a local pub that were showing a football match, eagerly watched by locals and an assortment of ex-pat Brits, but Chris & Nathan thought otherwise:

 

 

Then on to a super Restaurant, the "Clipper" for a superb Steak,

 

 

I can't quite recall what time we got to bed..??

 

Next day, back at the ground for a 10.00am start:

 

 

Another good hearty lunch to follow, then the final 2 layouts, all eyes were then on the master scoreboard to check who was winning, some of the UK contingent here refreshing themselves:

 

 

Here's Beatrice from Spain, (certainly one of the best female Sporting shooters in the World, (alongside our very own Cheryl), relaxing with her family:

 

 

And here we all are before the prizegiving, enjoying the warm sunshine:

 

 

Then the prizegiving, here's the Veteran winners:

 

 

Then the Juniors, (our Nathan shot superbly in his very first Compak event):

 

 

And here's the Ladies, with Denise in 1st place, Beatrice 2nd and Cheryl 3rd. They all shot brilliantly, but Denise has recently come back into form after a lay-off, and didn't she shoot well..??

 

 

I can't find a pic of the Senior winners, will post one if I can locate it..

 

The final score screen was turned off before I could take down all of the scores, but they'll soon be on the FITASC website, (I wish mine wasn't :blink: ), but joking apart, a great time had by all at a great ground in superb company, roll on the next one.

 

Cat.

[Hamster]

Absolutely fantastic Catamong, thanks.

[Dunkield]

Great write up sounded like a top trip.

[Ian E]

Top Stuff Thanks !!

[denniswebb]

Great report Cat, i think those were barnacles, which are supposed to be good to eat, the entry looked on the low side, i was thinking of doing the Cyprus World Compak later in the year, give the world fitasc a miss and do that, its good to see Denise back on form, in her day she was one of the top shooters, i remember they wouldn't let her in the team i think in the World Fitasc at 'Rabot' in France because as she had a baby they expected her to leave it at home, she came out in the caravan with the family instead. They live in France now.

 

Dennis

[paulos]

Excellent write up. Enjoyed it

[beretta]

Great report again Cat. :good:

[100milesaway]

Brill write up and Piccies Thanks Cat. from Auntie.

[gwb]

really good review

[Gordon R]

Well done Cat - another excellent mixture of photos and reports which capture the event really well.

 

Thanks.

[Mr Potter]

Brilliant pics & write-up (as usual) Cat, everytime I read one of your reports I really wish I'd been there. Are you doing the World in Cyprus, don't think I'll do it but I'm determined to do a major Compak in 2013.

 

Mr Potter

 

PS Really pleased to see Denise getting back up to her winning ways, have some very good memories of my early forays into FITASC Sporting at Denise & Tony's fabulous ground at Charlesworth in Derbyshire.

[Gordon R]

Charlesworth GC - now you are going back - 20 years or so. :rolleyes:

 

Shot there more times than I can remember.

[P~MX]

enjoyable readin and great pics -- Thanks for sharing

[Nicky T]

Cracking write up yet again Cat - thanks for making the effort